WUGs: Day 1 Prelims Rundown

7/10/2013

The pool competition began at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, today. In the morning prelims session, the United States had every swimmer qualify for tonight’s final or semifinal race. Meghan Hawthorne (Granada Hills, Calif.) and Sarah Henry (Garner, N.C.) earned the top-two seeds in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, while Jacob Pebley (Corvallis, Ore.) locked up the top seed in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Day one’s morning session started with Jacob Ritter (Austin, Texas) and Alex Wold (Santa Clara, Calif.) swimming the men’s 400m free. Ritter turned in a time of 3:52.50 and Wold a 3:52.76, good for the fourth and fifth seed. Japan’s Kohei Yamamoto earned the top seed with a time of 3:50.83.

Event two was the women’s 50m fly. Kelsey Floyd (Lexington, Ky.) and Jasmine Tosky (Palo Alto, Calif.) were in the same heat and finished one, two. Floyd found the wall in 26.82 and Tosky touched in 27.46. Canadian Katerine Savard’s time of 26.36 secured her the No. 1 seed.

Pebley’s time of 54.32 in the 100 back gave him the top seed heading into tonight’s semifinals. James Wells (Phippsburg, Maine) will be joining his teammate after swimming a 55.83.

The top seeds continued for the U.S into event four, the women’s 400 IM, as Hawthorn and Henry earned the top-two seeds for the finals. Hawthorne swam the race in 4:42.44, while Henry touched in 4:42.67.

Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill.) and Cody Miller (Las Vegas, Nev.) advanced to the semifinals of the 100 breaststroke. Alexandrov’s time of 1:00.76 was good enough for the second-overall seed behind Russia’s Kirill Strelnikov (1:00.44). Miller was able to find the wall in 1:01.77.

In the women’s 200m back, Ellen Williamson (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) finished in 2:11.71 and was just 0.23 seconds behind Australia’s Hayle White’s top time of 2:11.48. Kendyl Stewart (Carlsbad, Calif.) touched in 2:12.62 to earn the fourth seed in the semis.

Giles Smith (Baltimore, Md.) and Kyler Van Swol (Minneapolis, Minn.) are moving on in the men’s 50 fly. Smith had the field’s best reaction time (0.57) and clocked a 24.19. Meanwhile, Van Swol’s time of 24.30 pushed him into the semifinals. Nikita Konovalov of Russia turned in the field’s top time, 23.60.

The final two events of the night were the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. The women’s team of Rachael Acker (Palo, Alto, Calif), Liv Jensen (Palo Alto, Calif.), Andrea Murez (Venice, Calif.) and Megan Romano (St. Petersburg, Fla.) finished in 3:40.38, just 0.38 behind the top-seeded Russians. The men also finished second in the prelims behind Russia. The team of Derek Toomey (Minneapolis, Minn.), Smith, Tyler Reed (Morgantown, Ky.) and Michael Wynalda (Ann Arbor, Mich.) finished in 3:17.42.

Action resumes tonight at 7 p.m. local time. Be sure to follow the action live on Twitter @USA_Swimming and @USASwimLive for the latest updates and results. You can also watch the action on ESPN3.com beginning at 11 a.m. ET.